Greg Osborne has trouble sleeping at night.

Osborne, a former Piper Aircraft Inc. employee who got laid off earlier this month, wonders how he’ll be able to pay for his five prescriptions when his medical insurance runs out at the end of the month. He worries about how he’ll make rent this month and how he can delay paying for utilities.

But most of all, he prays that his kidney cancer doesn’t return.

“I loved my job. I loved that company, I loved my co-workers, it was my life. It was my family,” said Osborne, a former aircraft inspector at Piper for more than 11 years. “There’s days go by, I don’t even eat.”

Osborne joined other former Piper employees at a workshop organized by the United Way and Workforce Solutions of Indian River County Monday. The two agencies held seminars to help former Piper employees find social services and other financial assistance from the county and state.

Citing the global recession, Piper announced 300 layoffs on Feb. 10. Since November, the company has laid off 450 employees. About 650 people are employed with Piper, but it’s unknown how many are on a reduced work schedule.

Piper executives could not be reached Monday, but said in a statement Piper would close for one week in May and one week in June, in addition to the previously announced closings of one week in April and one week in July.

“These shutdowns will be without pay and will affect all employees in the company, from executive management to hourly manufacturing employees,” the statement from Piper spokesman Mark Miller said Monday.

The general aviation industry is suffering across the country, with thousands of jobs being eliminated. Cessna Aircraft Co. has reduced its workforce by about 4,600 and Hawker Beechcraft Corp. announced it would eliminate 2,300 jobs by the end of the year.

Former Piper employees who attended the seminar exchanged hugs and phone numbers. Some tried to hold back tears. Others said they were angry that Piper gave them no severance pay after the Feb. 10 layoffs.

Linda Monjai, who spent 15 years at Piper, said managing stress has been extremely difficult.

“I am still in shock,” Monjai said.

Former assembly worker David Fallwell and his wife Cassie hoped to find information about cheap medical insurance for their 6-year-old daughter.

“We had to give up our own home. We had to move in with my parents,” said Cassie Fallwell. “We had no choice. We would have been evicted and had to go to a homeless shelter.”

David Fallwell said he’s had difficulty finding even a minimum wage job in Indian River County.

“It’s very stressful, it’s like I can’t provide for my family anymore,” he said.

Jack Mathis, who got laid off from Piper in December, said several family members have lost their jobs at the Vero Beach plant. He said he’s struggling to keep up with his child support payments because he has not received his unemployment checks from the state yet.

“There’s nothing out there,” Mathis said. “I looked in Orlando, West Palm, Miami … I am not the type of guy that sits there and takes advantage of the system. I would rather work for my money than get it for free.”

Former Piper employee Debbie Colley said layoffs at Piper could change her honor student’s higher education plans.

“She deserves for me to give her a great 12th grade year and that hurts,” Colley said. “I want to give her the best. We all want to give our children the best. So it’s hard.”

By TCPalm Staff

Tags: Aircraft, best, cancer, children, informant, jobs, layoffs, medical, Miami, money, orlando, Piper, students, unemployment, utility, wife

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 24th, 2009 at 9:50 am and is filed under Economy, Indian River County, Schools, State, Vero Beach. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.